Bowl barrow 760m north west of The Down House

A Scheduled Monument in Mere, Wiltshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.113 / 51°6'46"N

Longitude: -2.2582 / 2°15'29"W

OS Eastings: 382020.173175

OS Northings: 134882.706399

OS Grid: ST820348

Mapcode National: GBR 0TX.5W6

Mapcode Global: VH980.T914

Entry Name: Bowl barrow 760m north west of The Down House

Scheduled Date: 26 October 1964

Last Amended: 24 September 1997

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1016300

English Heritage Legacy ID: 29777

County: Wiltshire

Civil Parish: Mere

Traditional County: Wiltshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Wiltshire

Church of England Parish: Mere St Michael the Archangel

Church of England Diocese: Salisbury

Details

The monument includes a ditched bowl barrow situated almost on the crest of
Mere Down, 760m north west of The Down House.
The barrow includes a slightly flat topped mound approximately 15m in diameter
and 0.6m high but is now rectangular in appearance due to plough action. In
places around the mound, most clearly on the south and south east sides, are
traces of a ditch approximately 2m wide. Elsewhere the ditch survives as a
buried feature.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments
dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most
examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as
earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple
burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often
acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar,
although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form
and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl
barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring
across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are
a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable
variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
protection.

The bowl barrow 760m north west of The Down House, is a comparatively well
preserved example of its class and, despite some erosion, will contain
archaeological remains providing information about Bronze Age beliefs, economy
and environment.

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